$51M Back Pay For NY Judges Nixed By Appellate Court

Law360, New York (January 23, 2014, 1:56 PM EST) -- A New York appellate panel on Wednesday reversed a trial judge who said in 2011 that a bill passed in 2009 entitled state judges to $51 million in retroactive pay, finding that the judges' arguments about the state Legislature's intent displayed a "fundamental misapprehension” about how to interpret state lawmaking.

A unanimous, four-judge panel of the Second Department, a mid-level appellate court, reversed Long Island trial Judge Karen V. Murphy, who ruled in 2011 that state lawmakers intended to release the money through the force of...